Hello, In this morning's "MassMoments" daily e-mail there is a story about the author, Herman MELVILLE. He was born and raised in NY, but in 1841 he was getting on a "whaler" in New Bedford, MA, which was heading out to the Pacific Ocean. http://www.massmoments.org:80/moment.cfm?mid=8 I just noticed that it was only 3 years later when the man I'm looking for, James CLARK, got on a ship in New Bedford - which was heading out for a 4-year voyage to the Indian Ocean. If Herman was at sea for 5 years, it makes me wonder whether men at sea on whalers (etc.) ever met up with each other ! Herman was on the "Acushnet." OOPS. I just tried to access the "data base of mariners" at the New Bedford (MA) Public Library, and they seem to have changed their web site. I was going to remind myself of which ship / whaler James CLARK got on. Oh, I just went to the archives of the MA Bristol List, and found my old posting, and it showed James was on the ship, "Ocean." Betty (near Lowell, MA) (It is only an "educated guess" that James CLARK is my ancestor. When his married daughter and her husband adopted a little girl in 1892 in MA, I believe they were her grandparents, but cannot prove it.)